The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1887-11-19
AN ITALIAN EDITOR
TALKS FRANKLY ABOUT THE NEWS.
PAPERS OF HIS COUNTRY.

Stupid Governmental Kcpressive Meas
ur"s Under AN Old Law-Gctting Ahead
of the Auth0rities-News and Fiction,
A List of Journals.
The office of The Messagero. of Rome, is
situated in the Via del Buffalo, and here cor
respondent called hy appointment the other
day upon the editor and proprietor, Sig.
Luigi Ccsana i'll order to receive an Italian
editors frank opinion on the newspaper press
of lis country
"fou come apropos," said Sig. Cessna;
"we have just been SEIZED" and he smiled
''l"efi!v, IT'S if an honor had just been con-
tc'ic,l upon him and not Il serious loss i'll
tlitpd. You see,' he continued, "every
morning, We have to deliver copy of the
lll'e!' I" the lrocuratore del re, the censor.
ln 'o!aNS iSS,le We had Il memorial article on
ti.H I;H'is commune, simply and purely his
t"llchl, Il, You can see for yoursef''-and he
stealthiy drew Il last remaining copy from
his desk-"and at $50 this morning tho po-
lice entered, stating that the issue had been
suppressed and ordering mc to yield up tho
whole edition ami to distribute the tyno in
their presence. Some papers had already
gone out, but they will seize them at the book
stalls or snatch them out of your hands us
you walk along the streets. They have done
this t" me many times before.
STUPID RErREsSIvE MEASURES.
But these people are as stupid as their re-
pressivc measures, You can form no idea of
their imheciity. The law of 1SlS is the law
OF roniiscation, under which they seiZe-of
ISIS! making 10 allowance for the improve
nrnts in machinery since then, which almost
makes newspaper printing another art SO
they order me to distribute etype, evidently
thinking that we print from the type-so
utterly ignorant are they of the business with
which they arc brought into daily contact.
or course we use n Marioni machine, us they
can see, and print from plates cast from q
paper macllo mold, that has been taken from
the type. Ii they We're to ask for our plates
or mold, that would he another thing; but
they think i'll looking after tho type they have
done the business. OF course, tonight shall
lrin, OH Il new edition Of the suppressed
paper, and in two days timo it will be dis
patched free to my friends in the provinces
-(no doubt they will make mo some little
present in rcturm-by which time the au-
thortie, will have forgotten all about the
incident and my views and history will have
circulated.
".As the divine attributes and achievements
and liberty Of the English ure too ideal-en-
t!rcly beyond our hopc to emulate or even
approach i'll tho present generatioll-wc as
plrc only to form our model on tho French
press. for the Italians have great affection
anu adnpratlon for everything French. Our
kilograms and our feulletons chiefly come
from France by arrangement with editors
aud authors. AS regards kilograms, we all
subscribe to the Stctan agency by reason Of
about 81 II month. But it is practically in
the governments hands, and there is conse-
qlwntly no Independence. How could there
Inc, with the government exercising its power,
when anything unpaatabla to it passes over
the wires, citIicr tn burke the telegram alto
gctlcr OF to delay ittwenty four hours OF so,
till tho message is of no danger to them and of
no use to us! The Special telegraph CORE
slonIlcnre which our papers boast rarely ill.,
cludcs foreign dispatches, though few papers
can plume themselves on telcgraplic commu-
/ nication with Paris newspaper. But our
people are not educated up to, nor interested
i'll, foreign events, except so far as directly
| Affects themselves.
SOME EXCELLENT PAPERS.
"Our people demand 'feulletons;' they will
have them. and the paper that wants to sue
ceed must have them. We have not even tho
excuse OF the French editor hat in introducing
fiction acknowledged fiction, mean into his
news sheet ho is encouraging native literary
talent. regret to say that we have no such
talent at present Our feuilletons arc bought
FROM French editors or authors, and, whether
new or not, are paid for at the rate of EGO q
novel, which will run through sixty, seventy
or eighty numbers.
The despotlsnl under which we labor has
t,1,A 4
excellent Iarers, as Italian papers go Milan,
the real literary and journalistic center Of
Italy, has its Secoo, With its 100000 circula-
ton, II paper illustrated with portraits and
/! views in the same manner and by the same
process us The Pail Mall Gazette Besides
this it publishes from time to timo elaborate
illustrated supplements gratis to its subscri-
bers. Then there is The Pungoo The Corriere
della Scra 100000, and Lltalin u5,O0W, tho
last conducted in the American style. Genoa
has The Epoco rO,ODO), IL democratic paper;
Naples Tho Piccolo, The Pungolo and several
others of considerable age, and Turin the
well known Gazzetta del Popolo. But it is
the same cry with them all-repressioi, otfi-
cial and social, which afIlicts them
"ln my own sphere | am trying Il remedy
by maxim. my business Il cooperative affair,
giving my writer's Il share i'll the profits in
addition to Il salary. Not until an editor and
Iii, staff can vie with minister and bis cabi-
net in Independence, riches, and popular es-
tecm-even power, us is often the case in
! England and sometimes i'll Franciscan we
compel the respect of society; and not until
we purge cur statute books of injustice and
anomaly, and educate our masses, can the
Italian press bc worthy to compete with the
press Of northwestern Europe "-Foreign
Letter.